An apparently stable story
Textbooks often summarize the Benandanti through a single trajectory: agrarian protectors become witches under inquisitorial pressure. That model is associated with influential scholarship and illuminates important records.
New corpus, different interpretation
Nardon’s work placed more attention on later healing and counter-witchcraft evidence. A new corpus can alter the answer even when earlier evidence remains genuine. Historical disagreement is often about sampling, chronology and interpretation, not a binary choice between truth and fabrication.
A tool worth borrowing
Version a claim with its supporting records, date and alternatives. When an interpretation changes, preserve the former model and explain why the evidence now favors another. The same practice improves modern technical investigations.
Source and revision record
- Santarelli and Weber, Benandanti, EreticopediaScholarly reference · Survey of agrarian, funerary and therapeutic strands, with discussion of scholarly disagreement.